Click to play videoRohtas (Bihar): Voters in Rohtas, Bihar have challenged the Maoists by defying their boycott calls and coming out in large number to vote.
The Red army calls the treacherous terrain in the Naxal infested Rohtas Fort region of central Bihar, the liberated zone. The four villages with 2000 voters have never dared to venture out of their homes to cast votes but the trend was broken this year as most of them cast their votes this General Elections.
Almost 1600 CRPF soldiers were manning the four polling booths in the area. This unprecedented security helped in creating a history in Bihar.
For the Election Commission holding these elections was a matter of prestige after large-scale Naxal violence in the first phase of polling.
The other easier option was to shift this polling booth to a relatively secure area, about 40-50 km away, but district administration decided to reach out to the villagers instead.
“I am happy so many people have come out to vote. It is an encouraging sign,” says SP Rohtas, Vikash Vaibhav.
But the beginning perhaps was made on the Independence Day last year when a police team climbed these hills despite boycott threat by the Naxals to unfurl the national flag. Less than a year later, the 2000 odd voters – some perhaps for the first time – have also been able to exercise their fundamental right to vote.
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